ELCA NEWS SERVICE
February 3, 2004
ELCA Task Force to Lead Study of 'Many Facets of Education'
04-015-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A 16-member task force of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Church in Society
(DCS) got a glimpse of the enormity of its work to help develop a
social statement on education for the church, when it met here
Jan. 30-Feb. 1. The second meeting of the task force included
conversations about a number of education-related topics, yet
many members said the subject had not been exhausted.
"It does seem like an impossible task," said Christi Lines,
principal, St. Paul's Lutheran School, Waverly, Iowa, and task
force co-chair. "Every time we enter into a new topic, we think
of something else to add to it," she said.
The task force is working with "a very inclusive
understanding, as Lutherans have always said about education --
from education in the home to preschool through high school,
college, secondary, in the parish, out of the parish, seminary,
continuing education, adult education, public education, private
education," said Dr. Paul J. Dovre, interim president, Concordia
College, Moorhead, Minn., and task force co-chair.
"We are committed as a group to explore that full scope and
to be inclusive and to think about all the many facets of
education and the layers and depth," Lines said.
"We talk about how inclusive, how broad it is," Dovre said.
"That suggests that what we will really be focusing on are
somewhat universal principles that are applicable to education in
all of these venues," he said.
"When people think of education, they don't all think of the
same thing. For some people education is information; for some
people education is formation; for some people education is
understanding; for some people education is wisdom; for some
people education is technical capacity," Dovre said. "We've got
to find some way of talking about education that is going to be
sensible and understandable for people."
"Lutherans have always affirmed, in the best of our
tradition, all forms of education," Dovre said. "I believe we
have established a kind of framework that will be very helpful to
us as we move forward -- that framework being the Lutheran idea
of 'calling' or 'vocation' -- that education for Lutherans can be
best understood by working out of that theological premise," he
said.
Dovre said "vocation" has come to mean "occupation" or
"career" for many people. He said it will be important for the
social statement to present the Lutheran understanding of
vocation and the role of education in that understanding.
"It was very interesting that we started this session by
going to a school that's a preschool through 6th grade," Dovre
said. The group met with Tania Sanzone Taylor, principal of
Bethel Christian School, associated with Bethel Lutheran Church
on Chicago's West Side. "There is an important place for the
church to be involved, and it was a very good place to begin,"
Dovre said.
A panel of scholars addressed the task force on biblical and
Lutheran perspectives of education: Dr. Marilyn J. Harran,
professor of history and religious studies, Chapman University,
Orange, Calif.; the Rev. Rolf A. Jacobson, assistant professor of
Old Testament, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn.; and the Rev.
Darrell H. Jodock, professor of religion, Gustavus Adolphus
College, St. Peter, Minn.
Many of the task force members wrote papers on their
perspectives of education that were shared among the members in
advance of the meeting and that were discussed throughout the
meeting.
The task force will develop three documents for the church:
study materials for use in 2005, the first draft of a proposed
social statement in 2006 and the proposed social statement on
education for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to consider in 2007.
The 2001 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA called for the
development of a social statement on education. DCS is
responsible for conducting studies and developing the church's
social statements for consideration by a churchwide assembly.
The DCS board defined the four purposes of the possible
social statement:
+ present a Lutheran vision of education for our time;
+ address issues of education and schooling for children and
young people in our society, with attention to purpose and
quality, equity and access for all, responsibilities, and
religion's role in public schooling;
+ set forth an understanding of our church's own educational
institutions (preschool, primary and secondary schools, and
colleges and universities); and
+ consider our church's ministries in relation to public schools
and universities and the vocation of Christians involved in
education in different roles.
Several members of the task force conducted "listening
posts" or hearings since their first meeting last summer, and
they provided the full task force with written reports about what
was said.
"One of the key questions we were asking people is what they
would like us to speak to, what would be helpful to people who
are citizens or who are educators," Dovre said. "What we gained
from those listening experiences is that people are hungry for
the church to speak, hungry for the church to affirm the role of
education, not only in the life of the church but in the life of
the society," he said.
In addition to Dovre and Lines, the task force members are:
+ Dr. Robert Benne, professor of religion and director, Center
for Religion and Science, Roanoke College, Salem, Va.;
+ Dr. Marcia Bunge, director of theological inquiry, Center for
the Theology of Childhood, and associate professor of theology
and humanities, Christ College, Valparaiso University,
Valparaiso, Ind.;
+ Louise Burns, retired public school teacher, Los Angeles;
+ the Rev. Michael Domenech, vice-president for religious
affairs, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, San Juan;
+ Marlene Lund, director, Lutheran Schools Association, New York;
+ Dr. Susan W. McArver, director, Center on Religion in the
South, and assistant professor of educational ministry and church
history, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.;
+ Dr. David Pellauer, professor of philosophy, DePaul University,
Chicago;
+ Ann Fretwell Schmidt, physical education and health teacher,
Kent Junior High School, Seatac, Wash.;
+ Dr. Barry Smith, hearing officer, Office of Dispute Resolution,
Pennsylvania Department for Education, Chambersburg;
+ Don Strickland, student, University of Texas, Fort Worth,
Texas;
+ the Rev. Harold Usgaard, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Minnesota
Synod, Rochester, Minn.;
+ Dr. Emily Van Dunk, research director, Public Policy Forum,
Milwaukee;
+ Dr. Grace Wolf-Chase, research astronomer, Adler Planetarium,
and research scientist, University of Chicago; and
+ the Rev. Jean A. Ziettlow, pastor, First Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Tulsa, Okla.
A member of the board of the ELCA Division for Church in
Society, the Rev. Rosa M. Key, Tabernacle Lutheran Church,
Philadelphia, serves as an advisor to the task force. Three ELCA
staff members are also advisors: Mark E. Carlson, director,
Lutheran Office of Public Policy, Sacramento, Calif.; Diane
Monroe, associate director for Christian education, ELCA Division
for Congregational Ministries; and Dr. Leonard G. Schulze,
executive director, ELCA Division for Higher Education in
Schools.
Marilyn Campbell, executive assistant to studies; the Rev.
Ronald W. Duty, assistant director for studies; and the Rev. John
R. Stumme, director for studies, serve as staff for the task
force from the ELCA Division for Church in Society.
-- -- --
Information about the work of the task force is at
http://www.elca.org/dcs/studies/education/ on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
